Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Shock news from the world of entertainment where Simon Cowell is quitting American Idol to develop his own X Factor show in the States.

Said Cowell, "I wanted to do something different. I wanted a new challenge".

The new challenge is, apparently to persuade anyone that there is anything other than cosmetic differences between the two. Oh, and to work out where he is going to invest all that extra money that comes with being an executive producer as well as the talent.

Mum is moving house this Friday after 35 years. I went over today to see what help I could be. She's been working towards this move for a few months now but with 35 years of accumulated stuff, it's taking a while.

And stuff is the appropriate word. There are so many things that will end up going into packing boxes marked "misc" and so many things that in the long run will not be kept.

I opened up a box of shoes to pack and at the bottom were a couple of plastic rain jackets. One, I seem to remember belonged to either my brother or myself around the time we were still holidaying in France as a family. Well, that all stopped around 1988 and the last time my brother came was, I think, in 1986.

The other coat belonged to our grandmother and she died in 1988. In fact, it was a pale blue plastic mac that she bought on a trip to Australia to see my uncle. I think she went around 1982.

With these coats were a pair of my dad's gloves. A good, lined winter pair. They fit. I wore them home. Even though the big freeze of 2010™ is nearly over, they may still come in (oh dear, I backed myself into a pun corner) handy (sorry).

Dad died in 2007. There are still lots of things from that and other eras. I know mum is looking forward to getting the move over and done with. I guess then she'll be able to look forward and make better decisions about what to keep.

She'll be moving to a similar sized house to our own, one significantly smaller than the one she's in. The best advice I can give, and I have, is to be ruthless about what she keeps. To select things that will help her to cherish the memories she has but to get rid of anything that is simply clutter.

She'll be happier with a clean slate and it will be easier to make those decisions when they are not so intrinsically tied to the bricks and mortar around her.